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Dr. Teeth
Dr. Teeth is the leader and keyboardist from the Electric Mayhem on The Muppet Show. He is a green humanoid arm puppet. His first appearance was in the Muppet Show Pilot where he did a musical number with the Electric Mayhem. He was first performed by Jim Henson. He first appeared in The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence in 1975, and had a prominent role in Muppet productions until Jim Henson's tragic, unexpected death in 1990. Dr. Teeth is green-skinned and red-haired with, as his name suggests, a large grinning mouth of teeth, including a gold tooth on his upper jaw. He wears a scruffy beard, a fur vest, a striped shirt, and a floppy purple top hat, though in the 1980s he started wearing a black leather vest. He also wears a pair of sunglasses which consist only of an upper half, suggesting eyelids at rest for a laid-back appearance, but which can be flung back at a moment's notice to telegraph shock or excitement. He has very long arms so additional puppeteers are required to guide them; this design enabled Henson to work the Dr. Teeth puppet while another performer acted as Dr. Teeth's "hands" in order to play the keyboard. After the death of Jim Henson, the role had been officially taken over by John Kennedy, however, the character only had made brief appearances with very little dialogue. Bill Barretta assumed the role in 2005 so Kennedy could start operating Floyd Pepper after the departure of Jerry Nelson, Floyd's original performer. He has also appeared in all of the Muppet movies, from his prominent roles in The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan, to his much smaller, often non-speaking roles in The Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, Muppets from Space. Dr. Teeth also appeared in The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island. He did not speak in either of the films, due to Jim Henson's death. He was seen in both playing the keyboard with the Electric Mayhem. Palisades Toys also released an action figure of Dr. Teeth with his keyboard and hat and also an Exclusive Action Figure released at Wizard World. Trivia *Dr. Teeth's look was inspired by jazz keyboardist Dr. John. Henson's original sketch for the character appears in the book Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles. Michael Frith then made a more refined, color sketch of the character, with the heading "Leon 'Doctor' Eltonjohn Dontshoot (the Piano Player)" -- adding the influence of Elton John (and possibly Leon Russell) to the character. Dr. Teeth's creative vocabulary is a direct nod to Dr. John. *While Dr. Teeth usually has live hands, his hands were originally rod hands in The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence. The rod arms would occasionally be used on The Muppet Show. Also, the live hands version has 5 fingers on each hand, while the rod arm version has four on each hand. Casting History Primary Performers *'Jim Henson': The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence (1975) - The Muppets at Walt Disney World (1990) *'John Kennedy': Muppets on Location: Days of Swine & Roses (1991), Muppet Treasure Island video game (1996), Muppets from Space (1999), Muppet RaceMania video game (2000), We Are Family music video (2002), Muppet Party Cruise video game (2003) *'Bill Barretta': The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005) - present Other Performers *'Victor Yerrid': Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony Episode 9 (2005) Filmography *''The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence'' *''Julie Andrews: My Favorite Things'' *''The Mike Douglas Show'' *''The Muppet Show'' **Episodes: **102 (At the Dance) **103 ("Willkommen") **104 ("Sunny") **106 ("Money") **110 ("Love Ya to Death", "Sweet Tooth Jam") **114 ("A Nice Girl Like Me") **116 ("Tenderly") **118 ("Lazybones") **120 (At the Dance) **123 **124 ("Mr. Bassman") **201 ("Lullaby of Birdland") **202 (Chopin's "Polonaise in A Flat") **208 **209 ("New York State of Mind") **211 ("Don't Blame the Dynamite") **213 (Boccherini's "Minuet in A Major") **214 ("Crocodile Rock", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Don't Go Breaking My Heart") **215 (Talk Spot: "Bye Bye Blackbird", "You're the One") **216 ("It Don't Mean a Thing") **218 ("That Old Black Magic") **220 (At the Dance) **222 ("Cheesecake") **301 **302 **305 **308 **311 **315 ("Mack the Knife") **317 ("America") **320 ("Lady Be Good") **407 ("Mama Don't Allow", "How High the Moon") **414 **415 ("Walk Right Back") **419 ("With a Little Help From My Friends") **420 **424 ("Last Time I Saw Him") **504 ("Barnyard Boogie") **505 **506 (as the Cheshire Cat: "When You're Smiling" Medley, "We're Off to See the Wizard") **510 ("Rockin' Robin") **511 ("Loves Me Like a Rock") **513 ("Poison Ivy") **517 ("When the Saints Go Marching In") *''Julie Andrews: One Step Into Spring'' *''The Muppet Movie'' *''The Muppets Go Hollywood'' *''The Great Muppet Caper'' *''I Love Liberty'' *''The Muppets Take Manhattan'' *''Rock Music with the Muppets'' *''The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years'' *''A Muppet Family Christmas'' *''The Jim Henson Hour'' **episode 107 **episode 108 *''The Muppets at Walt Disney World'' *''The Muppet Christmas Carol'' *''Muppet Treasure Island'' *''Muppets from Space'' *''Muppet RaceMania'' *''The Muppet Show Live'' *''It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie'' *''Muppets Party Cruise'' *''The Muppets' Wizard of Oz'' *"We Are Family" music video *CanTeen "Bandanana" commercial *''Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony'' (Episode 9) *''A Green and Red Christmas'' *''Studio DC: Almost Live'' *''A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa'' *''D23 Expo'' *Give a Day. Get a Disney Day. Commercials *Virmup **"Bohemian Rhapsody" *''Christmas in Rockefeller Center'' *''America's Funniest Home Videos'' *"The Muppet Show Theme music video" *''The Muppets'' Book appearances *''The Muppet Show Book'' *''It's The Muppet Show!'' *''The Comic Muppet Book'' *''Muppets at Sea'' *''Jim Henson's Muppet Show Bill'' *''The Muppets Take Manhattan'' *''Cleopigtra'' *''The Phantom of the Muppet Theater'' *''The Muppet Show Comic Book'' *''Muppet Robin Hood'' *''The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson'' *''Muppet Peter Pan'' *''Muppet Snow White'' Teeth, Dr. Teeth, Dr.